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23 May 2010

Kulinarya was started by a group of Filipino foodies living in Sydney, who are passionate about the Filipino culture and it's colourful cuisine.

Each month we will showcase a new dish along with our family recipes. By sharing these recipes we hope you find the same passion and love for Filipino food as we do.

This month's theme is Pancit (Filipino Noodles) chosen by Caroline from When Adobo Met Feijoada Blog and Olive from The Latest Recipes Blog.

For this month's theme, I asked for help. Who else better to ask, than my mum. I knew straight away that I was going to make Pancit Palabok as this is my mum's specialty. She is well known amongst the Filipinos around town for her Palabok.

When I was in my teens, mum and dad used to have a stall at the Melbourne Philippine Fiesta. In fact, they had a stall at the very first Fiesta back in 1982. In those days, it was a small affair and there were only a handful of stalls, mostly all selling food. My parents sold Longganisa, Tocino, Chicharon to name a few. The week before the Fiesta, the house would be full of wonderful smells from all the preparation for the big weekend. My parents made everything from scratch, including Tinapa (smoked fish). I remember when I used to get home from school, it was my job to scale and gut a whole box full of sardines. I hated it at the time but looking back, I am grateful that I was exposed to my parents passion for Filipino food.

They eventually stopped having a stall at the Fiesta however kept selling Filipino food to the local Filipino community. This is where her pancit palabok really became a favorite among the locals.

I am happy to share with you this recipe and part of my family memory.

The sauce it the key part of this dish. It has to be flavourful and it needs to be able to carry all the other flavours of the garnishes. This recipe is enough to feed 2 families or as my dad says "enough to feed the barangay(town)". This is the quantity my mum usually makes.

In a large pot, boil 5 to 6 pieces of chicken thighs with bones and skin on. Have enough water to use as the stock for the sauce (around 4-5 litres). When cooked, remove the chicken and set aside. When cool, remove the skin and shred meat into small pieces.

In another pan, saute 2 medium onions that have been chopped, along with about a bulb of garlic that has been finely chopped. Once it's cooked add two packets (20g) of ground achuete (annatto). Cook further for another 5 minutes.

To the chicken stock, add another litre of boiling water, 2 tbl of chicken stock podwer. Add the onion mixture to the chicken stock and stir. Add the shredded chicken.

In a bowl mix 300g cornflour and enough water to make a slurry. Add this to the pot and mix well so no lumps are created.

Keep stirring until the sauce thickens.

Cook the noodles as instructed on the packet. My mum recommends using thin rice noodles. She cooks the noodles by emerging them in boiling water for a few minutes. Remove and place under cold running water to prevent the noodles from sticking together.

To serve, place the noodles in a bowl and pour the sauce over it. You can now garnish it with any topping you like. Here is what my mum usually puts :

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comments:

You are so generous to have shared your parents recipe. It looks so delicious and authentic and much better than those "packet" sauces. I didn't realize that your parents sold so many Filipino dishes... I'd love the longganisa recipe one day!

cherrie,so this is what you were tweeting last week... huh! you're so generous in sharing a family trade secret. this recipe is as good as it gets. so authentic... cravings level: dangerously high! haha!great post cherrie!

Trissa, I've never had the sauce from a packet before. I did post my mum's longganisa http://sweetcherriepie.blogspot.com/2008/01/back-to-my-roots-challenge-9.html I'll probably revisit the longganisa and repost.

Kath, It definitely is worth it. I hope you feel better soon and join again next month **hugs**

Penny, Pls make it. I got my tinapa and achuete from a Filipino store, but I'm sure you are able to get it at any Asian grocery store.

Oh, palabok is my absolute favorite pancit (although don't get me wrong, I'll eat them all!) Thank you for a recipe that doesn't use Mama Sita packets - the sodium levels in those are through the roof! I much prefer this from-scratch version. 8-)

Pancit Palabok has a special place in my heart because this is my auntie's specialty; this is one of my first post in my blog trying to recreate her recipe from memory. :)

Granted there is alot of preparation for the toppings, it really is very easy to make. (I avoid the packets as well.)Thanks for making this month's KCC and sharing your mother's recipe. Timr to make palabok again! :)

Palabok is my most faaaaaavourite thing in the world! We go to Jollibee and I order this straight away! :) I can only use packet mixes as I don't know how to make the sauce, but thanks to you I can finally try making it at home. This is ABSOLUTELY fantastic!!!!!

Oh my!!! I started drooling when I saw your post which looks so delicious! I bet you had a good time eating it ;-) Ok, I did say I'm a rice-girl, but palabok & pancit malabon are the only 2 filipino pancits I crave for! Mind if i ask where did you get your tinapa?

I had pancit palabok for the first time this year (ever) and it was delicious! My mum didn't actually know how to make it but followed a recipe on the packet of the noodles. It didn't look anywhere near as gorgeous as yours but her one had a lot less ingredients.